Which distro do you use as a daily driver?

[MurphCID]

What I do not understand, and perhaps I never will: Why do they claim that Mint is only a newbie distro? Can not power users use the full power of Mint to power their Imperial battlestations? Is there something about Mint that prevents power users from reaching their potential? Is there some reason (other than being able to brag that you flogged yourself for hours to install a less polished distro) that Mint is not as capable as other distros? Does somehow Mint prevent you from using VIM/EMACS/NANO/etc. in order to get serious work done? Does Mint prevent people from doing whatever they want?

I call BS on that, and to me, the oft repeated canard about Mint being a newbie distro reeks of elitism. I loathe and despise elitists, most are really terrible people. Rant over.

[Hoser Rob]

... Why do they claim that Mint is only a newbie distro? ...

I'm not sure who 'they' are, I've often seen Mint recommended as a beginner's distro but I haven't seen anything that says it's only for them. There's simply no such thing as an "only for newbies" Linux distro. Though I would say that something like Gentoo is only for experts.

[JoeFootball]

... only a newbie distro?

I don't know what you read, so I can't speak to what context this is in, but I would think it's that LM works out-of-the-box better than some other distros, which lends itself to being user-friendly to people who haven't used Linux before.

That said, I'd have to agree with you that it's not just for newbies, as I use it nearly daily, and I've used Linux for more years than I care to recall. Though I do concede that I'd not classify myself as a Linux expert. Why, that would require a fancy certificate citing such an achievement. Oh look, my printer ...

... power their Imperial battlestations?

Gotta get me one of those.

[Termy]

@MurphCID:

I have a similar grievance with those using the likes of Arch Linux, looking down on those using Ubuntu (in general), or claim or imply and therefore tend to perpetuate this idea that Arch Linux and similar distribution are the only way to have a very lightweight and highly customized installation. I've proved this wrong many times. I've had my Ubuntu-based setup be confused with Arch before I probably became known as someone who did more advanced stuff using Ubuntu's base.

This is by no means a complete list, but in Ubuntu, Debian, and distributions based thereon, you can also:

• Compile your own kernel
• Compile your own software
• Strip or simply not install unwanted packages
• Use 'mini.iso' for a much more advanced installation
• Configure things like sudo(8), SystemD, X, and the kernel itself (IE: parameters)
• Use the terminal to do anything desired; the world's your oyster
• Opt for an untraditional paradigm, such as using a tiling window manager
• Configure your mount points and filesystems with precision
• Perform more advanced package-related tasks
• Focus on security and privacy in much the same ways as Arch Wiki recommends
• Install your own window manager, file manager, display manager, etc

So, with that in mind, I can appreciate and relate to your frustration.

It's ALL Linux.

On the flip-side, however, some distributions are tailored more to a certain audience, such as Linux Mint coming with damn-near every package under the sun installed; this is convenient to many, but bloat, inefficiency, and a security risk to others. That doesn't mean that Linux Mint can't be used by the more knowledgable folk, though. Part of the beauty of Linux is having the freedom to make a choice, such as to use a different distribution tailored more for your needs and desires.

[MartyMint]

Once you learn "stick", going back to automatic feels like a step down...

[rossdv8]

I'm a died in the wool Linux Mint person now.

currently using 19.3 Cinnamon as my go to Daily Driver laptop.

LM 20.x is still in the teething stages, and I will NOT spend any time on something that is not polished to a fair thee well. I have it on a spare laptop for reference the current situation, and it is not ready for me yet.

I nearly 'died' laughing when I saw the " 'died' in the wool" bit.
Still getting a laugh every time I notice it.. A quaint twist to an old saying.
When I die you can wrap me in wool too. Or maybe if they wrap me in wool it will kill me.

I use Mint Xfce 20.1 because it seems to have cut its teeth now.
I enjoy playing with all the stuff I used to have in KDE, like transparent and translucent apps. And all my old KDE tools don't interfere with its internals.

I also like being able to theme a lot of things that are not so easy in Cinnamon. like video wallpaper and other stuff. Just personal preference for my way of working.

[MurphCID]

... only a newbie distro?

I don't know what you read, so I can't speak to what context this is in, but I would think it's that LM works out-of-the-box better than some other distros, which lends itself to being user-friendly to people who haven't used Linux before.

That said, I'd have to agree with you that it's not just for newbies, as I use it nearly daily, and I've used Linux for more years than I care to recall. Though I do concede that I'd not classify myself as a Linux expert. Why, that would require a fancy certificate citing such an achievement. Oh look, my printer ...

... power their Imperial battlestations?

Gotta get me one of those.

Just quoting some Youtubers on the net. Plus there seems to me to be a perception in the Linux community (Not here of course), that "easy" to use or install somehow equates to "not good" or somehow inferior. Again this is the ugly elitism I saw back in the 1990's in the Linux world which ran me off from Linux for almost 20 years. It is massively better now, but that idea that "hard" to install, configure, or use is somehow the mark of a "real" Linux user, anything else is for noobs.

[JoeFootball]

Just quoting some Youtubers on the net. Plus there seems to me to be a perception in the Linux community (Not here of course), that "easy" to use or install somehow equates to "not good" or somehow inferior.

If their metric of "for newbies only" is governed by how well a distro installs and works, then so be it, I'm guilty as charged, and they can bask in the glory of compiling from source.

[MurphCID]

Just quoting some Youtubers on the net. Plus there seems to me to be a perception in the Linux community (Not here of course), that "easy" to use or install somehow equates to "not good" or somehow inferior.

If their metric of "for newbies only" is governed by how well a distro installs and works, then so be it, I'm guilty as charged, and they can bask in the glory of compiling from source.

Agreed, I just want something that works.

[MurphCID]

@MurphCID:

I have a similar grievance with those using the likes of Arch Linux, looking down on those using Ubuntu (in general), or claim or imply and therefore tend to perpetuate this idea that Arch Linux and similar distribution are the only way to have a very lightweight and highly customized installation. I've proved this wrong many times. I've had my Ubuntu-based setup be confused with Arch before I probably became known as someone who did more advanced stuff using Ubuntu's base.

This is by no means a complete list, but in Ubuntu, Debian, and distributions based thereon, you can also:

• Compile your own kernel
• Compile your own software
• Strip or simply not install unwanted packages
• Use 'mini.iso' for a much more advanced installation
• Configure things like sudo(8), SystemD, X, and the kernel itself (IE: parameters)
• Use the terminal to do anything desired; the world's your oyster
• Opt for an untraditional paradigm, such as using a tiling window manager
• Configure your mount points and filesystems with precision
• Perform more advanced package-related tasks
• Focus on security and privacy in much the same ways as Arch Wiki recommends
• Install your own window manager, file manager, display manager, etc

So, with that in mind, I can appreciate and relate to your frustration.

It's ALL Linux.

On the flip-side, however, some distributions are tailored more to a certain audience, such as Linux Mint coming with damn-near every package under the sun installed; this is convenient to many, but bloat, inefficiency, and a security risk to others. That doesn't mean that Linux Mint can't be used by the more knowledgable folk, though. Part of the beauty of Linux is having the freedom to make a choice, such as to use a different distribution tailored more for your needs and desires.

Very well said sir!

[RickyRaccoon]

Just quoting some Youtubers on the net. Plus there seems to me to be a perception in the Linux community (Not here of course), that "easy" to use or install somehow equates to "not good" or somehow inferior.

If their metric of "for newbies only" is governed by how well a distro installs and works, then so be it, I'm guilty as charged, and they can bask in the glory of compiling from source.

Agreed, I just want something that works.

Me, too.

My Acer Desktop, I sometimes have had antiX installed alongside Mint, because I've used it in the past to run one thing that absolutely necessitated squeezing every spare kilobyte of RAM from the system- but I don't like antiX- I would if I were into the nuts-and-bolts of everything, but I'm not. I would if I were running next to no RAM- but I find even 20.1 Cinnamon does fine with only two gigs, as long as I don't make too many demands on it... when I do, then I'll pull out something that's not as 'newbie friendly'.

Like the antiX.

Hard to beat a system running in only about 140, 150 Mb of RAM.

But if I don't have to... then I don't.

Heck, I'm so spoiled with Mint, I can't even abide something like Lubuntu. Just give me my Mint Cinnamon.

[Flemur]

Hard to beat a system running in only about 140, 150 Mb of RAM.
But if I don't have to... then I don't.

I got Mint 19.3 down to using about 160 MB at boot. You don't need to run a strange distro, you just to to not use a "desktop environment".
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=342148
(w Mint 20.1, it's around 200MB)

Edit: conky RAM use at boot:

memory.jpg (11.86 KiB) Viewed 3779 times

[RickyRaccoon]

Hard to beat a system running in only about 140, 150 Mb of RAM.
But if I don't have to... then I don't.

I got Mint 19.3 down to using about 160 MB at boot. You don't need to run a strange distro, you just to to not use a "desktop environment".
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=342148
(w Mint 20.1, it's around 200MB)

Edit: conky RAM use at boot:
memory.jpg

Sweet. That gives me ideas on my Acer.

Heck, I'm so spoiled with Mint, I can't even abide something like Lubuntu. Just give me my Mint Cinnamon.

[JTemple]

My wife refuses to consider anything but Windows in her office. I am her tech support; kinda sucks sometimes. And of course I have to use Windows at work.

I'm in a similar position with my husband. Far to often the problems he gets are sitting in the chair in front of that PC. Often he does things like instead of the shift +, he does CTRL + ??, ( he spent too many years on an electronic , word processing type writer and still is not accustomed to the smaller layout of a PC keyboard - I think?) I am left to figure out what the + after ctrl was. He gets confused when he some how accidentally shuts the browser's tool bar or the book marks bar and wants to know why they are suddenly gone. (How one does such things by accident beats me!) Worse, he is a very unsafe browser! I can't count the number of times I've had to clean out malware, adware and other horrors. A couple of times I had to go as far as wiping the drive and replace Windows. I DO NOT encourage him to move to Linus Mint! With all the freedom to change, reconfigure, etc. I would have nightmares about the damage he could do to himself. Windows 10 is fairly idiot proof, (a particular beef of mine with MS, each new bit idiot proofing is actually theft of user control.) Windows has definitely made it possible to know absolutely nothing and still use a PC. The worst of it all is hubby swears the computer does things on it's own and "I did not do anything to make it do that!" (SURE!!) I long ago gave up trying to tell him most of his problems are his own doing, it just creates a frigid environment. I do leave post its around his desk about how to undo some of the things he does often. That has made things a little quieter.

[rossdv8]

I'm in a similar position with my husband. Far to often the problems he gets are sitting in the chair in front of that PC.

Would your world be easier if you installed his Windows 10 into something like VirtualBox, maybe two virtual machines, so if one became messed up, there was a spare car ready to back out of the garage?

Nah!, probably not. You can whack most of us blokes over the head with a brick, and we'll just shake our head and look for a mosquito. . .

[silverstory]

My daily driver is Linux Mint 20 with KDE Plasma. Dual boot with Windows 10 for certain games that won't run on Steam/Proton and Lutris.
I have VMs in my Windows 10 - Fedora, Manjaro, Pop OS, Ubuntu, MX Linux. Just playing around on those distros.

[Flemur]

I use Arch about 58% of the time (that's me in the first picture, below) and Mint 20.1 about 42% of the time.

(Click to embiggen)

[mediclaser]

My daily driver for the mean time is LM 19.3 Cinnamon, because I'm too busy with a lot of things lately. That means all my multi-boot machines have several unused partitions (different distros including other Mint flavors). And they are becoming malnourished, because I have not fed them (with updates) for a while. Heck, I don't even have time to switch to Mint 20.x

[majpooper]

My Daily Driver right now is LM 19.3 Cinnamon however I have been testing and have a couple of laptops running Debian 11 netinst minimum CD on which I have installed Cinnamon - kind of my version of LMDE. What I like is the initial install is just system utilities (although you can choose a few other things - I don't) - I get to choose everything from the ground up to include the display manager, DE and any apps that I want and nothing I don't want (yes there are a few cases where installing a particular app includes additional software - Example installing Cinnamon will include nemo and the muffin windows manager)

Code: Select all

apt install --no-install-recommends "some-package"

is your friend and for the most part you can control what is installed on the system.

Certainly not an approach for anyone new to linux and for sure not as easy as just installing LM and you are basically good2go OOB - I get that. And it is not just LM it's most distros that are trying to accommodate a broad base of users so there is a ton (and I mean most) of the stuff (read bloat) that I don't want and a several things that I have to install myself.

I am definitely getting a lot cleaner system by installing only the apps I want and still having Cinnamon for the look and feel I really like. I will have to see how it goes for a few months with updates and stability but so far performance has been really good.

The only catch is that I am going with Debian 11 which is still in testing rather than 10 which is stable but I want the later version of Cinnamon that is not available in Debian 10. Since I am running with a rather small set of packages I thought I would give 11 a try - so far so good.

[t42]

The only catch is that I am going with Debian 11 which is still in testing rather than 10 which is stable

I'm too using Cinnamon on Debian 11 Bullseye - from July 2016 and it's working flawlessly since then. After these five years I can confirm that Testing is a new Stable. In a few month this installation can go Debian 11 Stable or Debian 12 Testing, depending on the sources.list content. Based on my experience I will remain on Testing Bookworm.